Two Bulldogs Officially Claim All-America Honors

Big Rapids, Mich. - Two members of the Ferris State University women's cross country team have officially been recognized as All-Americas as the United States Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced its official list following the NCAA Division II National Championships, which were conducted this past Saturday (Nov. 19) in Spokane, Wash.

Bulldog senior standout Tina Muir (St. Albans, U.K.) claimed All-America honors for the fourth consecutive year while junior Anna Rudd (Leslie) picked up her first cross country All-America honor. The duo helped lead the Bulldogs to a school-record tying eighth place finish at the national championships.

Overall finish at the NCAA Championships is the determining factor as the top 40 individuals from both men's and women's races earned All-America plaudits from the USTFCCCA. The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) claimed the most women's All-America certificates among all conferences with 10 overall.

The Great Northwest Athletic Conference and the Spokane Regional Sports Commission co-hosted the national championships at Plantes Ferry Park in Spokane.

Muir led the Bulldogs in her last collegiate cross country race by finishing a personal-best seventh overall and sixth in scoring position in the field in a time of 21:28.6 to earn All-America accolades. She's the only four-time All-American in FSU women's cross country history and her performance represented the highest individual finish ever for the Bulldogs.

Meanwhile, Rudd took 26th place (22:08.8) and was next in line for the Bulldogs. She previously had placed second overall and led the team to its national championships berth as FSU's top finisher in the NCAA-II Midwest Regional Championships held on Nov. 5 at FSU's Katke Golf Course in Big Rapids.

The Bulldogs advanced to the national championships for the fourth consecutive campaign this season. This year represented only the sixth time in history the Bulldog women's cross country team had qualified as a team for the national championships as their last three berths (2008-10) were the program's first appearances since 1987.

Ferris State's eighth-place performance in the national team race this year matches the Bulldogs' eighth-place finish at the 1981 National Championships and its showing in 2010 as the top efforts team-wise in Bulldog history.

This year's second-place regional finish under fourth-year head coach Steve Picucci also matched the program's best showing a year ago since claiming the Great Lakes Regional crown in 1987. It is one of the top three regional efforts in school history in addition to the Bulldogs' Great Lakes Regional victory in 1981.